Tambour Beading

Simple chain stitches worked with a hooked needle hold strands of beads to fabric

by Jan Bryant (from issue #44)

hen I was young, my mother had a friend who had beaded every gown that her daughter, an entertainer, wore on stage. I remember standing next to my mothers friend and leaning against the work table that held her beading frame, fascinated as she hand beaded the fabric for a dress. Much later, I met a designer who was looking for someone to help him bead dresses. He hired me and taught me how to bead with a tambour hook. Over the years Ive learned more about tambour beading and have developed the technique to the extent that I now teach the skill to others. To help you get started, Ill explain the basics: how to make a beading frame and stretch fabric onto it, and how to work a basic stitchthe chain stitch. You can practice making beginning and ending knots and beading on a piece of polyester chiffon that is stretched onto a homemade frame (see the instructions on p. 38). And when youre satisfied with your level of skill, youll be ready to try your hand at creating a beaded garment. For tambour beading, you work the chain stitches with your hook (see the inexpensive version on the facing page) on the wrong side of the work, anchoring the threaded beads on the right side. The advantage of tambour beading versus beading with a regular needle is that although it takes some time to master the hand motions, once these are learned, the beading proceeds much more quickly. The chain stitch is a locking stitch, which holds each bead firmly in place.

Beading on stretched fabric with a pointed hook, called tam bour beading, is the most efficient technique for ambitious beaded projects like the black chiffon jacket with gold bugle beads at right. This article will get you started.
36 THREADS

Photo by Susan Kahn

w w w. t h r e a d s m a g a z i n e . c o m

An inexpensive tambour hook and handle

A tambour beading needle needs a sharp point, unlike the blunter point of a tambour crochet hook. A shortened industrial machine-embroidery needle (No. 80, series 253M) (bottom of photo) makes an excellent tambour hook when inserted into a metal razor handle like the Excel USA, about $2 at art supply stores. Red nail polish painted on one quadrant of the handle vise marks the needle face position. Traditional wood (about $15) or metal handles also work, but the single screw tends to bend the needle. You can order a needle by mail from Jan Bryant. Send a check for $3 per needle and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to PO Box 8162, Los Angeles, CA 90008. The plastic tip cover that comes with the Excel handle is great for protecting the needle when its not in use. To shorten the needle, break the shaft where it begins to thicken. Grip the threaded shaft with pliers, grasp the muslincovered point and thin section, and snap the needle in two.

Beads

There are many different types of beads available, but whether they are the tubular bugle beads or circular seed beads, I like to use silver-lined, colored-glass beads because the silver makes the beads sparkle. Beads that are painted on the outside tend to lose their color, and the paint will rub off on your hands during beading. For tambour hook beading, always buy beads in hanks, rather than loose. A hank has ten or more strings of beads tied together at the top in a simple knot that allows you to pull out one string of beads at a time. Youre going to transfer the beads to your working thread, so dont remove the beads from the hank strings. If you are just getting started in beading, I recommend that you use No. 2 silver-lined bugle beadsa size thats easy to work with. These are the beads that Im using in this article.

so you can see what your hand underneath the fabric is doing. (Dont get black chiffon for your practice piece.) All that you need to try out the beading is a small rectangular piece, a half yard at most.

Tying beading threads to hank thread

Tie an overhand knot in the polyester thread around hank thread. Slide beads over knot.

Transferring beads to the beading thread

Fabric

While you can bead many different fabrics, polyester chiffon is one of the best fabrics to use for practice or for fancy garments. It is strong, and the holes made by the tambour needle do not spread (as they would in silk chiffon) and can be closed if you rub them with your fingernail. Chiffon in any color but black is transparent,
w w w. t h r e a d s m a g a z i n e . c o m

Once youve made a frame and stretched your fabric, as shown in the drawings and photo on p. 38, youre ready to prepare the beads for tambour use. Place a spool of beading thread on the headless nail that youve hammered to the frame support or frame. I use 100 percent polyester sewing thread (Metrosene) for strength, in a color that matches the fabric. Never bead with the string the beads come on, because it is weak and will break. Transfer a string of beads from the hank string to the beading thread, as shown in the drawing and photo at right. You can work with up to two strands of beads on your beading thread at a time, but never more. If you string more than two, the weight of the beads will cause the spool of thread to unwind.

Pull string of beads free from hank.

Polyester thread

Hank thread

Basic beading movement

For tambour beading, you hold the tambour needle in your dominant hand above the beading frame (see the

Transfer a strand of beads to polyes ter sewing thread by carefully sliding the beads down the hank string, over the knot be tween the bead ing and hank string, and onto the poly beading thread, as author Jan Bryant does here. Moving slowly ensures that the knot stays in place and doesnt release to scatter beads all around the room.
threads 37

Making a tambour beading frame and stretching fabric

These instructions will make a frame 25 by 38 inches. All the supplies are available at hard ware and fabric stores. Youll need the help of another person to do the final tightening of the fabric.

Making stretcher bars

Muslin 2.  Fold over muslin and staple again. For 25-inch bars, staple a third time.

1.  Staple a muslin strip to each 1-by-2.

1-by-2 3.  Turn over 25-inch bars once; concealing pins; Turn under the 38-inch bars once. Clamp at each corner just to hold. Muslin C-clamp 38-inch bar

Pinning fabric to stretcher bars

1.  Pin chiffon to muslin of longer bars, 1 inch from raw edges. Embeded pin points in fabric. 2. Pin chiffon to shorter  Polyester bars. Pin points stay thread above fabric.

polyester chiffon Glass-head pins

25-inch bar

Do not pin muslin together at corners.

4. To stretch the fabric so its drum tight, work one corner at a time. Grasp the ends of the bars and push the bars outward, as if closing a pair of gardening shears. A second person clamps the corner tightly with a C-clamp. 5. Now rest the frame across two saw horses or two table tops of equal height. Hammer a 212-inch finishing nail (a headless nail) partway into the saw horse at the far left corner of the frame, or into the frame itself if you are resting the frame on tables. If youre left-handed, put the spool at the far right corner.

the line; catch the thread with the hook turned sideways; and remove the needle with the hook facing backwards. Inserting the needle with the hook facing forward keeps the thread loop on the hook. Turn ing the hook sideways catches the thread securely. And when you remove the hook with the face backwards, you press the smooth shaft of the needle forward to open a hole in the fabric for the hook to slide smoothly from fabric and through the chain loop. The red mark that youve painted on the top of the handle (top photo, p. 37) tells you the direction that the hook faces when the needle is in your fabric, which is particularly useful when the fabric is opaque or black. The frame stays in one position and you rotate the hook as necessary. You can work along a design line in whatever direction is comfortable. You can work a circle (see the drawing on the facing page) either clockwise or counter-clockwise. However, for ease of movement, righties should always hook the thread to the left of the design line, lefties to the right.

Beginning a line of stitching

Supplies
 Four pieces of 1-by 2-inch clear pine: two 25 inches and two 38 inches long  Unbleached muslin: two strips 6 by 25 inch, two strips 6 by 38 inches  Four 2-inch C-clamps  Staple gun  Glass-head quilting pins  Rectangular piece of polyester chiffon, about 18 by 36 inches  One 212-inch finishing nail photos on the facing page). Your other hand will be underneath the frame, handling the thread and the beads. Since I am right-handed, Ive given instructions for holding the needle in the right hand. (If you are left-handed, reverse my instructions.) The left (or less dominant)
38 THREADS

hand works the thread. The beading thread feeds up between the index and middle finger, over the index finger, and down between the index finger and the thumb. Hold both parts of the thread between your thumb and middle finger. To work the hook, youll

need to pivot it, turning the face forward, backward, or sideways in relation to the design line. Except when starting and ending a line of stitching (at most, equal to the length of two hank strands of beads), youll always insert the needle with the hook facing forward along

For practicing the basic maneuvers, draw a 6-in. line on the stretched chiffon, perpendicular to the long side of the frame, with a ruler and a dressmakers pencil. Since you sit facing a long side of the frame, the line will be pointing away from you. Knots that are tied only in the thread would eventually pull out of the fabric under stress, so I make a knot in the fabric by stitching twice over one stitch, as described below. The first bead will hide the knot, so youll work the knot slightly in from the start of the design line. Insert the needle on the design line about 1 4 inch from the near end with the needle hook facing left (for righties); hook the thread. (Since theres no chain loop on the hook yet, you dont
w w w. t h r e a d s m a g a z i n e . c o m

have to have the face turned forward.) Turn the needle face forward, press the back of the needle against the fabric (press towards yourself) to open the hole slightly, and slide the needle out. At the same time, pull down slightly on the thread with your left hand to maintain tension and prevent the thread from jumping off your hook as you lift your needle out of the fabric. There will be a loop of thread on the needle. With the hook still facing forward, move forward about 1 16 inch and insert, still keeping tension on the thread with your left hand. Turn the hook sideways (left) and hook the thread. Turn the hook face backward, push the back of the needle against the fabric to open the hole (push away from yourself), and slide the needle out of the fabric and through the first loop. Keep the needle just above the fabric. Insert the needle into the first hole, hook the thread sideways, and remove the needle with the hook facing forward. Now pull the tail thread through the chain stitch and completely out of the fabric. To tighten the knot, pull the tail thread above the fabric and the spool thread underneath at the same time.

the bead is now held in place. Turn the hook backwards, open the fabric, and pull the needle out. From here you continue with a regular chain stitch.

Work chain stitches from the back

Ending knot

Basic beading

Jan Bryant is a professional beader and beading instructor in Los Angeles.

3
threads 39

w w w. t h r e a d s m a g a z i n e . c o m

Illustrations by Clarke

The three-step rhythm of the chain stitch, shown in the photo sequence at right, is: face the hook forward and insert; turn sideways and hook thread; turn backward, open hole, and remove hook. The first bead always sits directly on top of the knot, hiding it from view. To place the bead, first insert your needle at the beginning of the design line with the hook facing sideways; hook the thread. Turn the hook forward, open the hole, and pull out the first chain stitch. With your left hand, slide a bead up and snug it to the fabric. Line the bead up with the line of stitching. Insert the needle (still facing forward), turn it sideways, and hook the thread so

After youve stitched the last bead on your thread, you must make an ending knot by stitch ing across the design line between the last two beads. Youll need to use the face of a clock for reference. The end of the line is at twelve oclock. Slide the last loop between the last two beads as shown in the lower right photo at right. Then use two and seven oclock, starting at two. Pull the thread with your left hand to bring the needle down to the fabric. Insert the hook at two. Turn to seven, hook the thread, open the fabric, and remove the hook. Cross to just the other side of the design line at seven, insert the needle, turn to two, hook the thread, and remove the hook. Insert on the opposite side at two, turn to seven, hook the thread, and remove the hook. To break the thread, first pull up the thread about 5 or 6 in. Hold the spool thread tightly in your left hand, slide the loop up over the rough base of your handle, and pull both loop and thread simultaneously until the loop thread breaks. This will also tighten the knot.

1. Insert needle with hook facing direction of stitching (in this case, down), while holding a bead snugged next to the underside of the fabric with your left hand. Note how the first bead sits on top of the beginning knot.

2. Turn the hook perpendicular to the stitching line (indicated by red mark) and hook the thread. Pull on the thread with your left hand underneath the fabric to keep the bead and thread from falling off the hook.

3. Turn hook away from the direction of stitching. Push fabric open with the smooth side of the nee dle shaft, and pull the hook out.

Starting an ending knot: Slide last loop between last two beads by pulling back on the needle and pulling the thread with the left hand.

Only the start

How to turn the hook when beading curves

You can bead a circle clockwise or counterclockwise, whichever direction is the most comfortable. Righties always hook the thread to the left of the left of the design line, lefties to the right. The frame stays stationary.. 2 Heres how a 3 Arrow 1 rightie would indicates work a circle direction clockwise hook faces. 3 1=  Inset 1 hook. 2 2=  Hook 2 thread. 1 Chain 3=  Remove stitch on 3 hook. surface Bead 2 underneath 1

The chain stitch can be used with beads other than bugle. You can use round beads, chaining between groups of beads, rather than after every bead. I often chain beads in parallel lines or side by side with a zigzag pattern of stitches. For a look at beautiful couture examples of beading, I recommend asking your library for the out-of-print The Master Touch of Lesage by Palmer White (1987; Chne, France). M